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Portlander Colin O’Brady Made History Crossing Antarctica Solo. A New Profile Examines the Feat as a Triumph in Marketing.

O’Brady doesn’t just know how to tell his story. He knows where to tell it. (Henry Cromett)

O'Brady didn't just know how to tell his story. He knew where to tell it.

In 2016, O'Brady sent the first-ever Snapchat from the top of Mount Everest. It got 22 million views and became one of the app's most popular posts of the year. During his trek across the Antarctic, O'Brady published a photo to Instagram every day. He now rakes in tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees for keynote addresses and is working on a memoir.

"His message," Neville writes, "we all have a reservoir of untapped potential within us, and only our own minds can prevent us from accessing it."